A Different Path
by IndiZone
Summary: Fate is a cruel mistress who sets the path of your destiny from the day you're born. Some lie down and accept their fate, but others deny the path before them choosing to forge their own destiny. Minato the night of the Kyuubi's attack broke free from Fate's plan. Follow Naruto and the gang though this new path of life where things aren't always dictated by Fate. AU Naru/Hina


Author's not so subliminal message

So after reading fan fiction for a good few years and reading all types of different stories I finally decided to make my own and throw it into the fray for all of you to read and (hopefully) enjoy. This story will be an AU, (Alternate Universe for those of you who don't know) have a few original characters (some already in the series who will be featured more) and some plot changes that will change the story up quite a bit one of the biggest ones you'll see in this chapter here. The parings in the story have also already been decided on but won't really appear until post chunin-exams so please don't try suggesting any to me unless I ask. There also may be a few elements, jutsu, plot devices etc. that may already been in a different Naruto fan fiction, fan comic etc. that may appear. I'll try my best to credit people but if I miss something let me know in a PM and I'll give credit where credit is due. With that all said and done let's sit back kick up our feet and enjoy the show.

Rating: This story is rated M for mature themes that sometimes may be presented immaturely. Titty Sprinkles.

Disclaimer: I seriously hope you don't think I actually own Naruto. I mean come on would I really be wasting my time writing a fan fiction when I own one of the most popular shonen series?

oOoOoOoOoOo

(Undisclosed Location, Konohagakure)

"**MINATO NAMIKAZE GET THIS BABY OUT OF ME THIS INSTANT!" **came the booming voice of Kushina Uzumaki who had been going through contractions for the past hour trying to push her baby out.

"Just keep pushing Kushina it will be all over soon I promise." Reassured the voice of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. He had his hands over her stomach performing maintenance over her seal that kept the nine-tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi, sealed inside of her still functioning during her childbirth. The entire procedure's success was critical for the safety for the village even if they were unaware that they were currently in any danger at the moment. During a female jinchūriki's pregnancy, the energy used to maintain the seal has to be redirected to the growing child in her womb — whether consciously done or not. As a result, the seal used on the beast weakens in direct proportion, and as such special preparations have to be made when a female jinchūriki is about to give birth as the seal may break entirely. Minato had been smart though and took every precaution possible for this to go smoothly.

Performing the delivery was the previous Hokage's wife Biwako who was the legendary Sannin Tsunade sensei for medical jutsu. Assisting her was a trusted medic-nin in training who was ex-ANBU, a young girl from the Senju clan named Taji who was a friend of Kushina and had given birth to her own son about a year ago. Located outside was also a squad of elite ANBU hand-picked by Minato himself stationed outside performing guard duty to make sure that if someone had somehow gotten past the barrier they would make it into the room where the delivery was taking place. As a final precaution that entire village's ninja force had been put through what he announced was a drill to practice for an incident for a large scale attack on the village since relations with the other villages had been spotty since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.

Minato winced as the Kyuubi thrashing about inside his fiancé cut off his train of thought. Kushina cried out in pain from not only contractions but also the demon fox inside her trying to break free. "Come on Kushina you can do it!"

"I can see the head!" Taji cried out seeing a little patch of blonde emerge.

"Just a little more Kushina-chan! Push!" Biwako did her best with medical ninjutsu to numb the pain.

"Come on you can do it push him out!" As in response the Kyuubi trashed once more in an attempt to break free. "No you stay in, Naruto come out!" Kushina had to hold back a laugh despite being in immense pain. She took a deep breath and gave a couple more hard pushes until both parents heard the cries from their newborn son for the first time.

"You did it Kushina-sama! It's a healthy baby boy!" Taji cried out in excitement as she wrapped the baby into an orange blanket after Biwako cleaned the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Minato seeing the little baby for the first time began to tear up.

"I-I'm a father! Haha!" Minato wiped his tears from his eyes.

"N-Naruto…" Kushina panted in exhaustion. "I finally get to see you…" She too began to tear up from emotion of seeing her son for the first time.

"Alright Kushina lets wrap this up. I'm going to fully reseal the Kyuubi now." Minato dried his tears as he prepared to go to work.

_**Thwump! Thwump!**_

"Biwako-sama! Taji-san!" Minato cried in shock seeing the two slump over with multiple kunai and shuriken protruding from their bodies. Minato turned to see an unknown masked man holding a crying Naruto with his hand menacingly hovering above his sons face.

"Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, step away from the Jinchūriki. If you do not your child won't live to take his next breath." The Masked Man threatened.

_Impossible! How did he break through the barrier?! And the ANBU outside?! Who the hell is this man?!_ Minato thought as the Masked Man starred his down through his one eye-hole. Minato's train of though was broken as Kushina cried out in pain as the seal started to grow unstable.

"I said step away from her!" The Masked Man drew a kunai and held it to Naruto's head to further drive his point. "Don't you care about the well-being of your brat?"

"W-Wait… let's just calm down and try to talk this though!" Minato panicked trying to defuse the situation. The Masked Man replied by throwing Naruto in the air followed by his kunai.

"NARUTO!" Kushina cried out in terror. In a flash Minato appeared on the opposite wall holding Naruto in his arms.

"Well, well I must hand it to you being the yellow flash and all." The Masked Man said catching his falling kunai. "But I do wonder how you'll respond to this next one." Minato looked in shock down to the bundle in his arms now making a sizzling noise as he saw multiple high powered explosive notes attached to Naruto. In the next second where Minato once was flashed yellow and suddenly he was gone. The Masked Man turned to Kushina as the air around him seemed to distort and become sucked into his eye-hole. "Now where were we?"

(Minato's hideout, Outside the Hidden Leaf Village)

Minato set Naruto down onto the bed as he had stopped crying a few minutes ago. "Stay put here for a bit Naruto your dad needs to go save your mother right now. You'll be safe I promise." Minato hurried to the opposite closet to the bed and threw it open grabbing his thigh pouch and cloak. As Minato was strapping his pouch on he winced as he gripped his wrist. He looked at his hand and watched the numbers climb from one to nine until the seal withered off his hand. _No! It can't be! The Kyuubi was released! _Minato threw his cloak on and flashed away.

(Undisclosed Location, Konohagakure)

The Masked Man watched as the seals he placed on Kushina spread onto the nearby rocks he had placed her on and held her up in an almost ritualistic fashion as he prepared to extract the Kyuubi. "Wh-what do you want with me?" She asked struggling to catch her breath.

"I'm going to pull the Kyuubi out from your body and then use it to destroy Konoha." The Masked Man simply stated. Kushina's eyes widened in shock at what the man just stated. "Minato's teleportation jutsu allows him to teleport to where ever his seal is placed." The Masked Man stated. "I see he integrated one into your seal in order to protect you in dire situation… That means we must be quick before he arrives now doesn't it?" Kushina looked at the man and saw into his eyehole a Sharingan. _The Sharingan!? Who is this man? _

"It's a good thing childbirth puts a strain on your seal enough to weaken it for effortless extraction." The man narrowed his eye at Kushina. Inside of Kushina the Kyuubi raged as his restraints began to deteriorate. "This moment, do you know how long I have waited for it?"

Suddenly a kunai phased right through the man and fell into the water. "Oh? What do we have here?" The Masked Man turned to see Taji leaning against the wall holding a shuriken she pulled from her shoulder.

"Y-You think that's all i-it takes to kill a S-Sen-Senju?" she smirked.

"Maybe not, but this should do you in." Space began to distort around The Masked Man's eye-hole again as a giant shuriken flew out. Taji jumped to dodge the flying projectile but due to her injured stated she wasn't able to fully dodge as the shuriken severed her left leg above the knee.

"Taji!" Kushina cried out watching her hit the ground hard as a red cloak of demonic chakra began to engulf her. "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH JUST YOU WAIT!"

"Just for being rude and interrupting me I think I'll let you die slowly as you bleed out." The Masked Man turned back to see Kushina trying to break free from her restraints. "Oh good you did the next step for me, thank you. Now then, Kyuubi come on out!" The Masked Man ordered making a seal. A purple mass of chakra began to protrude from Kushina's stomach as it began to take shape into the Kyuubi. Kushina cried out in agony, it felt as if someone had just stabbed her in the gut and was now just reaching into the wound and ripping everything out. Soon the beast in all of its terrible glory emerged and gave out a roar of triumph as it was finally free again. The Masked Man went though a few hand signs placing a genjutsu onto the Kyuubi placing it under his control and giving it the Sharingan.

"Good. Now let's go destroy the leaf Kyuubi." The Masked Man turned to leave. Kushina struggled on the rock she was slumped over weakly reaching out trying to stop the man. "W-Wait." She weakly called. "You Uzumaki shinobi are truly amazing. To survive the extraction of a biju, and the Kyuubi no less." The Masked Man looked back to face Kushina. "I think I'll let the Kyuubi get revenge on you imprisoning him for all those years." Kushina looked up in horror as the Kyuubi raised its claw to end her life in on swipe. "So long, and thanks for the biju."

_**CRASH!**_

Just before the claw could hit it's mark and end Kushina's life a flash of yellow sparked and Kushina was gone. The Masked Man looked up into the tree's to read a cloak that read FOURTH HOKAGE down the back and see Minato holding Kushina. "I'm impressed. You're as flashy as your nickname suggests."

Kushina looked up to Minato weakly. "Minato… Is Naruto safe?" she begged hoping to hear positive news. Minato smiled weakly and nodded. "Good. You need to stop that man and the nine tails right now. He's heading for Konoha." Minato looked back in anger at the Masked Man but his eyes widened to see Taji slowly bleeding out on the ground nearby. Minato drew one of his trademark kunai and threw it into the ground next and flashed to her side and grabbed onto her before flashing away again.

"He flew off again, nd brought that Senju girl with him it seems." The Masked Man chuckled. "No mater. The Leaf will be a stain on the ground within the hour."

(Minato's Hideout, Outside of Konohagakure)

Minato landed back into his hideout once more with the two women in tow. "Why?" Kushina simply stated. "Why would someone do this?" Minato set her down onto the bed next to Naruto.

"Just stay here with Naruto for a moment while I check on Taji-san." Minato turned to the woman currently who was now sitting weakly against a wall with blood steadily pouring from her missing leg.

"F-Forgive me Hokage-sama for I have failed you and Kushina-san." Muttered the injured woman. Minato shook his head as he took out a brush and began to draw one of the few medical seals onto her leg. "I took the second chance Biwako-sensei gave me and threw it away." Minato was shocked. _If Taji survived then Biwako must still be inside._

"Is Biwako still alive as well?" Taji shook her head sadly.

"She gave what little she had left in her to heal me some kinjutsu before she passed on." Taji choked out tears forming at her eyes. Minato cursed as he continued the seal he was making. While normally he was no medic nin Minato did devise a few seals that served medical purposes during the Third Shinobi World War. The only he was currently applying was one meant to turn amputated or severed limbs into stumps in emergency situations.

_I'll make this man pay for what he has done. I swear on it. _Minato finished the seal onto the girl's severed leg. "This isn't going to be pleasant Taji-san but this will stop the bleeding and close the wound."

"Gr-great I'm going to be lugging around a stump now." The woman murmured jokingly. Minato channeled chakra into the seal as it activated slowly stopping the bleeding and beginning to close the wound. Taji hissed in pain as she tried to bear through it. The entire process wasn't pretty as it bubbled and sizzled over slowly as it graphed new skin onto the wound.

"I-I just… went through child birth… and… getting the Kyuubi r-ripped from me… Don't you dare... d-d-die to this… Taji-chan." Kushina weakly ordered the woman.

Minato looked to the two women and his newborn son below him clutching his fist in anger. _I don't know who this man is but he is going to pay for this._

(Konohagakure)

The village was bustling with life as usual on the cool night as citizens went about their business as usual. Inside the village square two young Shinobi were walking together patrolling the area as part of the drill indicated by their Hokage. "So how about just simple game of Janken for our next challenge?" A silver hair teen in a mask with his forehead protector sporting his village's symbol covering his left eye asked as the two passed a pair of inebriated men walking home.

"Janken?! Not that again! Think of something more exciting like who can juggle the most explosive note clusters!" A bowl cut teen with VERY thick eyebrows in an unfashionable green jumpsuit shouted. "How can you call yourself my rival Kakashi when you think of such boring challenges for us to partake in!?"

"We have an early mission tomorrow and were conducting a drill for a high alert scenario and you want to juggle explosives? Seriously Gai?"

"Don't use that as an excuse! I have all this pent up energy inside me ready to explode at any moment! Now is the time for an exciting challenge my youthful rival for we are hardworking shinobi ready to fully blossom our youth tonight!" The spandex clad ninja ranted.

"Oh so you wish to visit a brothel then?" The ANBU joked. The green beast looked mortified at his response and went into another rant about how such lecherous acts were unyouthful. Kakashi looked up into the air feeling something was just wrong, the feeling sent a chill down his spine. "Oi Gai. Do you sense something weird too? There's been this weird chill in the air for a bit now."

"It your cool attitude that causing it!" Gai shouted in frustration.

Elsewhere in the Uchiha clan compound a young boy sat outside starring at the full moon with his baby brother resting in his lap. He narrowed his eyes at the moon as something felt off to him. "What is this feeling?" He asked aloud to no one in particular. In his lap the baby began to stir in cry as if in response to the unnatural chill in the air. "There, there Sasuke. Your big brother Itachi won't let anything happen to you." _This feeling… Of all days for mother and father to be out._

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood on top of the Hokage mansion with a few other ninja looking into the distance outside the village. He narrowed his eyes as something felt off to him again. "Hokage-sama is something wrong?" A chunin asked him. Hiruzen shook his head reassuring the chunin before glancing back to where he was starring previously. _There's that feeling again… It can't be?_

In a dark alley in the outskirts of town space distorted again as the Masked Man appeared and looked around the area. _Showtime_ he thought raising his hand. "SUMMONING JUTSU!" In a large burst of smoke that sent debris flying and people onto the ground stood the nine-tailed beast in all of its horrible glory. A few villagers looked at it in panic.

"I-It can't be!"

"The Kyuubi!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" In just a few moments the village went into panic.

"Go Kyuubi! Destroy this village!" The Masked Man ordered the Kyuubi as it raised it's claw and slammed down into a building. Across the village Minato flashed atop of his head on the stone monument starring at the Kyuubi before him. Right away the Kyuubi turned and faced the man growling in anger.

"So you noticed me already?" The Kyuubi looked up into the air and raised its head and tails up and started to gather chakra for its attack.

"NOT SO FAST!" roared of a few shinobi below who began to fire of a few of their ninjutsu and tossing explosive notes. The Kyuubi broke concentration allowing the tailed beast bomb to dissipate and swiped his claw at the ninja who just attacked him. The process repeated itself a few times a leaf-nin continued to sacrifice themselves to buy time for civilians to escape to the emergency bunkers.

Minato sighed in relief. _It looks like calling for that drill was a good idea. Everyone seems to be prepared and ready to fight._ He was right as a majority of the shinobi got over the initial shock and seemed to be mobilizing. Before Minato could join the fray though he sensed someone behind him and turned to slash at them with his kunai. He watched as his kunai passed tough the Masked Man in an odd fashion as space distorted around his kunai as it passed tough the man who chuckled in response. He reached out and grabbed Minato by the wrist and brought his face to his. "Don't think you can just walk away from me." He simply stated starring into his eyes with his Sharingan. Space began to distort from the Masked Man's eyehole as he felt himself being pulled into a vortex similar to his flying thunder god jutsu. Minato responded by doing what he does best by flashing away in a yellow light.

"He got away… so fast…" The Masked Man said clutching where Minato once was as he watched the hidden leaf Nin engage the Kyuubi. "No matter; he can run as far as he wants, but he can't hide forever."

To say the situation was bad was an understatement. The Kyuubi was on a warpath destroying whatever it could leave nothing but debris and corpses where it went. A leaf chunin looked out at the situation grimly. "At this rate… the village will be-"

"Don't give up so quickly!" came the voice of the third Hokage.

"Sandaime-sama!" A few leaf nin shouted in relief to their previous leader arrive.

"We cannot back down, no matter how powerful the force we face! We have our home to protect! Now let's gather our forces and drive this thing out of the village once and for all!"

"Yes Sandaime-sama!" The leaf nin had gotten their morale back up with that speech and went into action. Hiruzen leaped on top of a building and with several shinobi of varying ranks around him. "Summoning Jutsu!" He cried out bringing forth the Monkey King Enma in the form of the adamantine staff. The Kyuubi gave a ferocious roar as it swiped at the building Hiruzen was at only to be stopped by the adamantine staff. The staff then expanded out to impossible lengths as it sent the Kyuubi off balance enough for Hiruzen to let off a few volleys of a fireball jutsu. Around him the leaf nin weir doing the same at whatever opening that they could get off on the monster. The beast regained its balance though and slammed its fits into the ground to stabilize itself and caused a few tremors onto the ground. The Kyuubi inhaled deeply and shot out a barrage of wind bullets. Hiruzen dodged the cutting air blasts but some weren't so fortunate as they took a direct hit. Hiruzen grimaced has he noticed a few of his leaf-nin get bisected by the attack and were still alive begging for death to escape the pain. Enraged Hiruzen jumped towards the beast and swung with his staff causing it to grow into a size that rivaled one of the beast tails and slam it into the biju's cheek. Carrying the momentum Hiruzen raised his giant staff high and brought it down onto the Kyuubi's head causing the beast to become disoriented for a moment.

"Sir! Choza Akimichi has arrived with his clan and is awaiting orders." reported an ANBU. As in on cue the Akimichi clan head appeared onto the roof with Hiruzen in his battle armor ready to join the fray with a few other Akimichi. "Sorry to keep you waiting! The Akimichi are at your service." The Akimichi proudly declared.

"Choza get that beast as close to the village edge as you can!" Hiruzen commanded.

"Right!" Choza leaped into the air as the other Akimichi fanned out. "Hidden Art: Super Expansion Jutsu!" Choza body began to enlarge to a size that matched that of the Kyuubi as he landed before the beast and grabbed onto it holding it in place. He grimaced as he felt the beast's hot breath onto him as he began to wrestle with the monster. "HUUUUAH!" The Akimichi roared as her began to shift his weight and turned throwing the Kyuubi across the village and watched it skid across buildings a good distance away. Choza then leaped into the air and slammed his elbow down onto the beasts head as it tried to get back up. The Akimichi smirked in triumph at the beast laying below him. "Legendary Beast my as-" Choza was interrupted by the Kyuubi's tail wrapping around his leg and throwing the large man casually away like a rag doll sending him flying into a building as he shrunk down to cause less collateral damage.

The third Hokage was speechless as he watched as the Kyuubi recovered from the beating Choza gave it and went back to its devastation to the village. _This thing is something else. To take such a powerful attack and brush it off as if it was nothing. _Hiruzen's thoughts were interrupted as several members of the Inuzuka clan arrived with their animal companions. "Did you think you could keep all the fun to yourself Sandaime-sama?" Tsume Inuzuka the current clan head arrived with her companion Kuromaru.

"I was curious as to why the air stank of fox all night and now I can see why." The one eye and ear dog mused as he stood ready for battle.

"Oh Tsume-chan you ready for some good old fashion Inuzuka family bonding?" A blue haired man with the classic Inuzuka clan markings on his face wrapped his arm are Tsume's waist. The man was met with a slight bonk on the head by the clan head who shot him a glare.

"Not now Yarne. We just had Kiba I'm not feeling like having another pup after this, if we even survive that is." Tsume looked to her husband riding on top of his beast partner Inugami. The long white wolf with the black face looked to her and nodded ready to fight. "Alright Inuzuka clan lets show this damn fox how the hounds hunt!"

Several members of the clan shot off with their partners in the infamous Inuzuka jutsu Gatsuga literally drilling into several parts of the Kyuubi. The beast grew increasingly annoyed by the Inuzuka clan continuing to harass it and began swiping at the clan with its tails and claw taking out a few members.

Tsume broke formation and landed back onto the ground with her partner Kuromaru. "Everyone regroup and combine for a full frontal attack! I'll distract the beast to buy us some time!" Tsume shot off again with Kuromaru buzzing around the Kyuubi's face. The beast grew increasingly frustrated and started to snap at the two and successfully catching Kuromaru in its mouth. "Kuromaru!" Tsume cried out.

"Don't concern yourself about me just keep going!" Kuromaru called from inside the fox's mouth. Tsume had other plans as she spun faster than before and hooked after the beast missed making her its lunch again and drilled with such force into its snout the Kyuubi roared in pain. Seeing an opening Tsume spun into the Kyuubi's mouth and placed herself between jaw and forced its mouth to stay open.

"Quick get out of here!" She commanded.

"Not without you Tsume!" Kuromaru ran across the beasts tongue to escape. Tsume at the other hand was struggling to keep the Kyuubi's mouth open as she poured more and more of her chakra into her body to enhance her strength as much as possible. Kuromaru leaped from the beasts mouth and turned to see Tsume smile sadly to her partner. "Sorry but it looks like this is it for me. Tell Yarne I'm sorry to watch over the pack." The Kyuubi's mouth slammed shut finally.

"NO TSUME!" Yarne called out in horror as he just watched he wife get devoured before his eyes by the Kyuubi. A few of the other clan members began to slow down or even stop as they couldn't believe what they just saw. "What are you stopping for? Just because our alpha is lost doesn't mean the entire pack falls apart! Get yourselves back together and let's show this beast what were made of!" With their resolve strengthened the Inuzuka spiraled off into the air together and combined into one giant Gatsuga. The giant technique slammed directly into the Kyuubi face that put up a bit of resistance at first but faltered as it recoiled from the brunt force of the attack. "WERE NOT DONE YET YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Yarne roared as he brought the drill back around and slammed into the Kyuubi back sending it onto its stomach drilling for a few seconds before the clan broke apart onto different locations due to exhaustion from using such a large scale attack.

Much to Hiruzen's horror the beast got back up and shook off the damage. "This can't be our attacks have done nothing?!" Hiruzen looked frustrated at the beast. _No it has slowed down considerably and even the Kyuubi seems to be a bit worn._ _If we can push it just a bit long we have a chance! Do we even stand a chance against the Kyuubi?_

"Sir! Shikaku Nara has devised a strategy with Inoichi Yamanaka and is awaiting your signal."

Hiruzen nodded. "Do it."

Shikaku Nara had one word to describe this entire situation. Troublesome. His wife has just given birth a few weeks ago, something most of his fellow clan heads had experienced he noticed lately. He thought he was in the clear for troublesome situations for a long while with her no longer being moody from pregnancy, but then this of all things had to happen. "Man this just isn't my day." The lazy man grumbled.

"When is it?" joked one of his clan members. Shikaku sighed and brought his hands together. "Let's just get this over with." He groaned as his and many other Nara clan member's shadows shot out crawling against the ground before it reached the Kyuubi immobilizing it. The beast though managed to still raise a claw and go to strike out at the Nara's. "Not so fast." The shadows began to climb up the beast and engulf it up to its arm stopping it in place. "Choza, do it."

"Right!" The Akimichi ran forward expanding in size again and rammed into the beast leaving it wide open for an attack. "INOICHI YOUR TURN!"

"I've got it!" In the distance Inoichi stood on top of a spire overlooking the entire battlefield and made a hand sign sending his thoughts to the entire village's shinobi forces. _**Now everyone while we have an opening let's show this monster what happens when you test the will of fire! Everyone together! **_All around the entire village several shinobi gathered up their chakra and started to go through the hand signs to the most devastating jutsu that they had access to.

The sky lit up as if the sun had risen already as countless jutsu charged towards the Kyuubi. The largest and most menacing though came from the Sandaime himself who let loose a giant fire dragon that slammed into the Kyuubi followed by a barrage of techniques that sent the demon fox flying a good distance into the air. The Kyuubi landed right on the wall leading outside of the village causing dust and debris to flood the nearby empty streets. _Good it's almost outside the village._ He looked to his fellow shinobi who were both physically drained and chakra exhausted. _How much longer can we keep this up though?__  
_

(Outside Konohagakure)

Minato hit the ground by one of his hiraishin kunai impaled into the ground outside his now destroyed hideout. He groaned in frustration and hit the ground with his fist. _My attack missed him. It somehow phased though him like he wasn't even there and then he tried to drag me into that vortex into his eye. What jutsu is that? _Minato looked up in shock as the space in front of him became distorted into a vortex and the Masked Man appeared before him once again.

"Did you really think you could run from me Fourth Hokage?" the Masked Man taunted.

"Being the fastest man alive. Yes. Yes I did."_ So it's a space time ninjutsu that he uses. That must be how he broke though the barrier and managed to appear behind me at the monument so quickly. He also not only knew Kushina was the Jinchūriki and that the seal would weaken during childbirth. Furthermore he undid the seal to the nine tails and took control of it. There is only on shinobi capable of this, but it's impossible that man was killed by the first Hokage himself._ "Are you Madara Uchiha?"

The Masked Man laughed deeply as if he was told a joke. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. Does it matter?"

"At this point I guess not. Why attack Konoha though?"

"Maybe I did it for fun or maybe I planned on it. Hell it could even be war or even for peace." The Masked Man drew two shackles attached by a long chain from his robe and attached them to his wrists. Minato drew a three pronged kunai and starred down the Masked Man. The battle was about to begin.

Minato and the Masked Man charged forward as Minato moved to stab into his foes chest but he ended up phasing though him again like before. When he reached the other end he felt himself get hit the chains and the Masked Man begin to pull In order to snare him before he dodged by flashing away. _So that's what his chains are for._ _He also seems to make himself intangible to dodge but makes himself solid to attack. Therefore my only chance to hit him is when he is right about to hit me. This is going to be a battle of speed. _Minato smirked confidently. _He chose the wrong opponent. _Both men charged at one another again but this time Minato tossed his Hiraishin kunai out first watching it phase through the Masker Man's face. He waited watching him reach for his sleeve as he formed his signature jutsu, the rasengan, in his hand.

Minato felt the Masked Mans finger brush up against his sleeve as he flashed to his kunai grabbing it and slamming the chakra orb into his opponents back who let out a yell of pain. "That was my Hiraishin level 2." Minato pushed down harder with his rasengan causing the ground to tremor and explode out. Minato then pressed his bare palm against the man's back and channeled his chakra into it bringing up a complex seal. "The nine tails no longer follows your command!"

Minato jumped back and smirked in confidence as he watched his opponent struggle to stand back up after his attack. His left arm seemed to be broken and he was dripping blood from the bottom of his robe. "I'm impressed. You not only managed to injure me but you also severed my connection to the Kyuubi. But know this Minato, I will be back for the nine tails one day and I will take over this fake world." The space once again distorted from the masked man as he vanished into the night. Minato starred into the space where the Masked Man once stood. _Fake world? What is that supposed to mean?_ An explosion in the distance caught Minato's attention. _Shit... I forgot about the Kyuubi._ He sweat dropped at the thought of him forgetting something so important. _Man I'm a shitty Hokage sometimes._ He jumped out to the top of the tree's to see the Kyuubi had been driven slightly outside the village. "Good it's out of the village now. Let's finish this." Minato steeled himself and flashed away.

(Minato's Hideout, Outside of Konohagakure)

Kushina struggled to walk across the room as it continued to shake from the Kyuubi's rampage. Naruto continued to cry from the tremors on the bed next to here where Taji was currently leaning against unconscious. Thankfully the bleeding had stopped and the Senju's leg was healed somewhat with the wound closed fully. It wasn't very pretty looking but what amputated limb did? She reached on top of the dresser and clutched a small drum toy that Minato purchased for Naruto. She stumbled back to the bed and laid with her child.

"Shh Naruto… It's going to be alright… Mommy's… right here…" She gently began swinging the toy back and forth causing a soft tapping noise. "Look… Daddy bought… this for you…" Naruto slowly stopped crying and looked to the toy with awe. She giggled weakly at how fascinated he was by the drum. "Your dad was right… You do like it…"

Suddenly there was a flash of Yellow as Minato appeared. "Mi-Minato! What are… you doing here?" Kushina was confused the Kyuubi was still rampaging outside. She could clearly feel it. Minato just looked at her solemnly before turning to Naruto. Kushina immediately knew what he wanted to do. "No! Don't you even consider condemning our child to such a fate!"

"We have to Kushina it's the only way." Minato didn't like the plan any more than his wife. It was tearing him up inside but he had a duty as a Hokage and he couldn't condone asking anyone else to bear such a burden. Kushina wanted to argue back at him but she saw how much it ate him up inside.

"F-Fine… But I'm… coming with…" Minato tried to protest but Kushina wouldn't have it. "We're a family… Were in this together ya' know?" She smiled to her husband. Minato nodded and handed Naruto to her. He scooped his wife up and flashed away.

(Outskirts of Konohagakure)

To say the Sandaime was exhausted was an understatement. Even though he was backed up by a majority of his generation of ninja and his teammates along with The Hyuga clan and the Uchiha clan they were still fighting a downhill battle. _It was never in our favor._ He observed the battlefield around him. Choza was currently on the Curry Pill of his clans special soldier pills and seemed to already be suffering from the draw backs. Shikaku and Yarne had pulled back a majority of their clan due to heavy losses but the two didn't seem to be in great shape themselves seeming to suffer from chakra exhaustion. Hiashi had personally joined the battle with the branch house and his brother Hizashi and with their Kaiten dealing with the air blasts the Kyuubi fired off every now and then. The Uchiha had been putting on a majority of the offensive but Hiruzen noticed the weary glances being shot at the clan by the few observant shinobi who had seen the beast was sporting a Sharingan a few minutes ago. A few had brushed it off as just them seeing things but Hiruzen himself was weary.

"Look out it's preparing that blast ball again!" A Jonin cried out. "We need Choza!" The man was currently incapacitated though from the effects of the curry pill and severe charka exhaustion.

The Sandaime prepared to order a retreat when there was an explosion of smoke in the sky. Everyone looked up to see a giant frog fall from the sky and land right on the Kyuubi and force it to the ground. "NOT SO FAST MOTHER FUCKER!" Gamabunta the boss toad slammed the Kyuubi's head down and then forced it's head up towards the sky where the tailed beast bomb shoot off into the distance before exploding.

The shinobi took a moment to register what happened before them. They looked to the top of the toad boss to see the Fourth Hokage standing atop its head holding Kushina who was clutching Naruto. The Shinobi cheered to see their Hokage alive and here to back them up.

Minato smiled down to his subordinates below him and jumped down to the ground in front of the Kyuubi and set down Kushina. "Excellent work everyone! You did your village proud but right now I need you all to head back to the Village and start helping with the relief effort!" A few shinobi looked confused.

"But sir? What about the Kyuubi?" An ANBU in a bird mask questioned. Just as he asked that Kushina had released her chakra chains from her body and into the ground which snaked around the Kyuubi and forced him down onto the ground. Gamabunta who was still holding the buji down squirmed around trying to avoid getting wrapped up himself. "A little warning next time!" the toad bellowed.

"We've got things under control." Minato looked to Hiruzen and a few others he trusted and nodded to them indicating them to stay. "Now! You have your orders move out!"

"Yes Hokage-sama!" The Shinobi had gathered themselves and the injured disappearing leaving only Hiruzen, Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, Shikaku Nara, Hiashi Hyuga, and dog masked ANBU. Minato slumped at their leave no longer needing to keep up his appearance of authority.

"Minato! Are you ok?" Hiashi asked coming to his friend's aid.

"I'm very tired Hiashi… I prepared for things to go bad but this was just something else entirely." The Hyuga looked concerned. Minato looked like he just went through hell and back and didn't seem to be in good shape. "Kushina… put up a barrier please." The tired woman placed her hands on the ground and the air around them shimmered slightly. Kushina coughed up a bit of blood after the strain of putting up the barrier which caused the chains to weaken. The Kyuubi went to take advantage of the opportunity but was forced back down by Gamabunta.

"Yer not goin' anywhere." Gamabunta was happily pinning the giant tailed beast down as Kushina tightened her hold as she was being tended to by the Dog masked ANBU and Homura.

"Minato… what happened? Is Biwako okay?" Hiruzen looked to his successor hopefully.

"I-I'm sorry… She didn't make it… but Kushina will inform you all as to what happened after I seal the Kyuubi into Naruto here." Hiruzen looked devastated to hear his wife was killed.

"What do you mean Kushina will tell? Do you not plan to tell us yourself?" Koharu asked confused.

"I'm going to use the Dead Demon Consuming seal in conjuration with the Eight Trigram seal to seal the Kyuubi into my son." Everyone's eyes widened at the revelation.

"Minato you can't!" Kushina cried out. "We just… became a family… you… you can't just leave us!" She began crying. _I-I don't know if I can do this without you..._ "Please...I need you... Naruto needs you... dont't...don't go." Kushina tried her hardest to convince him otherwise. It broke Minato's heart to have to do this but it was the only option he had.

"Minato… I'll do it." Hiruzen declared.

"No, this is my duty as a Hokage to sacrifice myself for the village's sake."

"Don't be so foolish boy. Are you forgetting that I was the Hokage before you? I may be retired but I'll be damned if I let you make the same mistake I did by putting this cursed job before your family." Hiruzen thought back to how his own son had become a delinquent due to his neglect. "Now stop being stubborn and teach me this damn jutsu. I wish to see my wife once again."

Kushina watched on as Minato taught Hiruzen how to complete the jutsu. She felt light headed, exhausted and not to mention her entire body was on fire from delivering a baby and then the Kyuubi. She felt her conscious begin to fade but fought as hard as possible to stay awake. "Hiashi, Shikaku…" She called to the two men before her. "In… Minato's bunker… Taji is still alive… lost a leg… help her…" She panted out. The two men nodded and left her in the care of the ANBU and Homura.

Suddenly the Third Hokage completed the jutsu and a pale grey arm fired out of his chest and snaked around the Kyuubi drawing it's chakra out from it. "Koharu… Homura… tell Asuma I'm sorry for failing him as a father." The arm began to withdraw back into the Sandaime bringing the Kyuubi's Yin chakra within him. Hiruzen struggled to stand from the sheer weight of the chakra that was being sealed into him. "I'll see you two on the other side…" The third fell to his knees and then to the ground dead from using the seal. The Kyuubi having its Yin chakra taken from it began to drastically decrease in size to the point where Gamabunta could easily hold it in both his giant webbed hands.

Minato looked to Kushina groggily waving back and forth to exhaustion. "It's okay Kushina… You did more than enough, get some rest." The last sight she saw was her husband to be smiling reassuringly to her as he placed Naruto onto an altar bed.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Author's not so subliminal ending note

Well can't say that was exactly easy but I've had this damn fic in my head for the past month and I had to start it at the very least.

Due to me being in college and working this fic wont be updated at a set interval I'll pretty much get around to it whenever possible but I'll do what I can do try maybe 2-3 updates a month.

As for people who who have complaints like. 'OMG LEIK Y ISNT DIS SASUNARU DEY R MY OTP' and 'DA FUK Y IS MINETO ALIVE HE WUS SAPPOUSED 2 DYE!11' leave a comment voicing your displeasure and I'll be sure to work on giving a fuck.

Now if you have actual constructive criticism like I use certain wording and phrases to much, I had a major plot hole, or anything else that didn't sit right I'll greatly appreciate it, but if you just like the story and think I'm a great writer that's cool too.

Finally I am in need of a competent beta reader who can look over a draft or two and give input on not only spelling and grammar but maybe help with a few plot hooks and etc.

So remember the three r's of fanfiction Read Review and… Refavorite? Yeah that was totally it.


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